I eat an on-the-go breakfast every am due to a wretched commute. I have been eating Kashi Go Lean bars and was wondering if people think these are healthy? The ingredients seem pretty healthy except for these two ingredients- Fractionated Palm Kernel Oil and Vegetable Glycerin. What the heck are they? Any additional suggestions for good energy bars would be great.

Sat. Mar 10, 3:27pm

Palm oil contains just about equal amounts of saturated and unsaturated fatty acids, whereas palm kernel oil is about 82 percent saturated. Neither contains any trans fatty acids because they have not been hydrogenated. (With all those saturated fatty acids, who needs saturation-producing hydrogenation?) Palm oil is sometimes subjected to "fractionation," meaning that its fatty acids are partially separated from one another to produce oils with different balances of saturated to unsaturated fatty acids. Without knowing which fractionated product you're getting in your margarine, you don't know its ratio of saturated to unsaturated fatty acids.

Most authorities therefore recommend that because of their high saturation levels -- 50 percent for palm oil, 82 percent for palm kernel oil -- it's a good idea to minimize your consumption of any oil from a palm tree, also known as a "tropical" oil.

(from the Warshington Post)

Saturday, March 10, 2007, 3:52 PM

I like Clif Builder's Protein Bars and the Fiber One Bars. Honestly though, I haven't found a single bar that actually fills me up like real food. I'll do the Fiber One Bars as a snack sometimes and the Clif Bar before a morning workout when I want something light in my system.
~kat_3~

Saturday, March 10, 2007, 8:56 PM

vegetable glycerine is a "natural" sweetner. Don't worry about it.

Sunday, March 11, 2007, 2:11 AM

I eat the south beach die high preotein cereal bars, they fill me up pretty well. I did just look and they also have the fractionated palm kernel oil. darn!